You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them ontime (no later than Friday, September 22). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammer and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
Note: The dramatic action in this play does not flow in the same manner as that in Trifles, Wedding Band, Real Women Have Curves, and Split Second. For one thing, Mann has built her play around interviews with individuals who lived thru the incidents depicted in the play, such as friends of Milk, reporters who covered the trial, even jurors who spoke out after the trial was over. This approach to the construction of a play is unique and often challenging to readers. It generally works well on the stage but not so well in the study. We see another playwright use this technique with very different results in Fires in the Mirror. So, the questions posed about the construction of the play do not easily follow Ball’s method of analysis.
1. You may identify the stasis in the play but it isn’t necessarily at the beginning of the play. Where is it and who does it involve?
I think perhaps the stasis of this plays lays within the moments before the verdict for Dan has been reached. When we find ourselves in a place where there seems to be no ground being covered in the arguments made before the introduction of the audio clip. There seems to be an obvious shift of the sympathies from perhaps towards Milk and Moscone, to that of Dan who on the tape seemed distraught.
2. Ball points out that the intrusion sometimes occurs late in the dramatic action. What is the intrusion that breaks the stasis in Execution of Justice and how is it broken?
I think what breaks the stasis in this play is when the attention is drawn towards, the audio of Dan White's confession. He sounds distraught, broken, and crushed by the weight of what he's done. This shift of sympathies is felt in the play, we feel this change, and we begin to see the first signs of the prosecution faltering. This is the first loss of ground for the prosecution in this case.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? Hint: what is the heart of the play? How does the title figure in this?
The reason this play takes place in San Francisco and covers the trial of Dan White, is perhaps to comment on the injustice within the justice system during this time. In any and all cases this case should have gone completely different, Dan White confessed to kill two innocent people. A double murder, this should have been an open-close case. However due to the homophobia, and discrimination prevalent during this time it wasn't. Many people even though he "did a service" by killing Harvey Milk. This play's setting takes place here because we see the execution of justice at the hand of an impartial jury, and society.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Will there ever be justice for the Gay community?
Will the atmosphere for the Gay community get better?
Where is the corruption in today's society that someone who commits double murder walks away with less than 10 year sentence?
What were Dan's true motivations?
5. Use the two lawyers to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what these particular characters wants. The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles facing each of the lawyers.
The wants of the characters in this play are much more complicated than those in the previous plays, as these characters are caught in what is seemingly the main conflict within the play, the murders of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone. Norman is driven by the desire to protect the LGBTQ+ community and their rights, as well as to ensure the correct punishment for Dan White. Normal while having generally good intentions is far too arrogant about winning the case, he believes as most people would like believe, that it's a open-close case, and as a result he lost the case. He was up against a heteronormative society that would not accept the correct punishment, an would instead protect an obviously guilty man. Schmidt the defense, was I believe trying to win a case that to any rational person probably seemed unwinnable to the defense. He was up against the Gay community and many others who saw Milk and Moscone as representative that were good for the minority.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Execution of Justice
Many of the theatrical moments occur when the play adds new characters such as the young mother, milk's friend, and others who seemed rather out of the blue, but in all it adds to the dramatic effect of the play. The final verdict was also a very dramatic moment as it goes against what many people expected. The use of different media through the screen and the playing of actual clips helps contextualize the emotions that are being felt by the audience there.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammer and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
Note: The dramatic action in this play does not flow in the same manner as that in Trifles, Wedding Band, Real Women Have Curves, and Split Second. For one thing, Mann has built her play around interviews with individuals who lived thru the incidents depicted in the play, such as friends of Milk, reporters who covered the trial, even jurors who spoke out after the trial was over. This approach to the construction of a play is unique and often challenging to readers. It generally works well on the stage but not so well in the study. We see another playwright use this technique with very different results in Fires in the Mirror. So, the questions posed about the construction of the play do not easily follow Ball’s method of analysis.
1. You may identify the stasis in the play but it isn’t necessarily at the beginning of the play. Where is it and who does it involve?
I think perhaps the stasis of this plays lays within the moments before the verdict for Dan has been reached. When we find ourselves in a place where there seems to be no ground being covered in the arguments made before the introduction of the audio clip. There seems to be an obvious shift of the sympathies from perhaps towards Milk and Moscone, to that of Dan who on the tape seemed distraught.
2. Ball points out that the intrusion sometimes occurs late in the dramatic action. What is the intrusion that breaks the stasis in Execution of Justice and how is it broken?
I think what breaks the stasis in this play is when the attention is drawn towards, the audio of Dan White's confession. He sounds distraught, broken, and crushed by the weight of what he's done. This shift of sympathies is felt in the play, we feel this change, and we begin to see the first signs of the prosecution faltering. This is the first loss of ground for the prosecution in this case.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? Hint: what is the heart of the play? How does the title figure in this?
The reason this play takes place in San Francisco and covers the trial of Dan White, is perhaps to comment on the injustice within the justice system during this time. In any and all cases this case should have gone completely different, Dan White confessed to kill two innocent people. A double murder, this should have been an open-close case. However due to the homophobia, and discrimination prevalent during this time it wasn't. Many people even though he "did a service" by killing Harvey Milk. This play's setting takes place here because we see the execution of justice at the hand of an impartial jury, and society.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Will there ever be justice for the Gay community?
Will the atmosphere for the Gay community get better?
Where is the corruption in today's society that someone who commits double murder walks away with less than 10 year sentence?
What were Dan's true motivations?
5. Use the two lawyers to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what these particular characters wants. The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles facing each of the lawyers.
The wants of the characters in this play are much more complicated than those in the previous plays, as these characters are caught in what is seemingly the main conflict within the play, the murders of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone. Norman is driven by the desire to protect the LGBTQ+ community and their rights, as well as to ensure the correct punishment for Dan White. Normal while having generally good intentions is far too arrogant about winning the case, he believes as most people would like believe, that it's a open-close case, and as a result he lost the case. He was up against a heteronormative society that would not accept the correct punishment, an would instead protect an obviously guilty man. Schmidt the defense, was I believe trying to win a case that to any rational person probably seemed unwinnable to the defense. He was up against the Gay community and many others who saw Milk and Moscone as representative that were good for the minority.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Execution of Justice
Many of the theatrical moments occur when the play adds new characters such as the young mother, milk's friend, and others who seemed rather out of the blue, but in all it adds to the dramatic effect of the play. The final verdict was also a very dramatic moment as it goes against what many people expected. The use of different media through the screen and the playing of actual clips helps contextualize the emotions that are being felt by the audience there.